<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SEA_Tigger:
The TU-144 never recovered from the crash of one of the Mk. II prototypes (with new wings and "split" engine bays) at the 1973 Paris Air Show (as she tried to miss a French fighter on a reconnaissance-gathering mission).
The plane did do a scheduled mail-run between Moscow and Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, but one passanger plane crashed in 1977 and she was pulled from service a year later.
As WHBM noted, her operating costs were obscene asher Kuznetsov NK-144 turbojets needed afterburner to maintain Mach 2+ flight, which limited range to 4000 miles. And as a Concorde reminds me of a CRJ inside, the TU-144 is more like a Jetstream 41. *shudder*
Still, was a kick to see her at the Moscow Monino museum.
A decent site: http://www.bird.ch/Russians/Tu144/TU144P01.html</font>
Do the Russians make any plane where the wings don't droop???